New ownership of Saratoga Springs' Siro's Restaurant includes many famous names

Racing Restaurants of America has bought Siro's Restaurant on Lincoln Avenue in Saratoga Springs for an undisclosed sum. The new managing group hopes to run the restaurant year-round. (ERICA MILLER/The Saratogian)

(Editor's note: This article was updated Tuesday, July 20 to reflect a clarification of the year the August Group bought the Siro's.)

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- After spending more than a year on the market, Siro's Restaurant has been sold to a three-partner managing group backed by a star-studded cast of investors.

Keith Kantrowitz, principal of Power Express Mortgage; Paul Carlucci, publisher of the New York Post; and Steven Schoenfeld, managing partner of MPS Global Securities, make up the newly formed managing group called Racing Restaurants of America, which bought the high-profile establishment at 168 Lincoln Ave. from the five co-owners known as the August Group: Davis Mead III, Patrick Anderson, Thomas Anderson, Warren Wiseman and Thomas Dillon, who had owned the business for more than 25 years.

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"We chose this property because we were patrons of it -- some of group had been for 30 years," Kantrowitz said Monday. The group has bought the restaurant at 168 Lincoln Ave. for an undisclosed sum, he said.

Neither party would disclose the sale price of the property Monday, citing liability because details of the transaction were still being finalized.

"It's a complicated transaction but it's a good transaction," said Jim Wood, an Albany-based attorney who negotiated the sale. "We're just dotting the i's and crossing the t's and making sure all the permits are in place."

Siro's was listed for $3.1 million before the price was lowered to $2.87 million in July 2009, according to Realty USA listing agent Vaughn Woodworth.

A long roster of new investors in the business includes prominent individuals such as jockey Johnny Velasquez, trainer Dallas Stewart, West Point Thoroughbreds principal Terry Finley, Calvin Klein head designer Francisco Costa, and horseman and Theory CEO Andrew Rosen. Actors Kevin Connolly and Kevin Dillon, both of the HBO series "Entourage"; sports and entertainment photographer George Kalinsky; Dr. Keith Ablow of Fox News; horseman, arbitrator and mediator Marty Scheinman; horsemen John DeStefano and John Kelly; and local Saratoga Springs resident Josh Cooper are also investors.

The restaurant, which is adjacent to Saratoga Race Course, has a long history as a summer destination spot that has drawn famous personalities from Saratoga Springs and beyond since James Siro established it more than 70 years ago.

The August Group bought it in1986 from Harry and Eleanor Kirker and eventually had it generating more than $1.5 million each year, mostly during the six-week racing season.

The group had been appealing to the city to change a zoning code that would allow the restaurant to stay open year-round, instead of the 90 days it is currently allowed to operate. Prior to the August Group's ownership, Siro's had operated year-round for about 10 years.

At a City Council meeting last winter, co-owner Thomas Dillon said that without year-round operation Siro's could be forced to close.

Dillon did not respond to calls for comment Monday.

Kantrowitz said Monday the new managing group is continuing to pursue the possibility of year-round operation. A plan to keep Siro's open on weekends from October through New Year's this year is under way, he said.

Longtime General Manager Michael Stone and Dillon, acting as executive chef, will stay on while the new owners work to make the restaurant more accessible to local residents.

"It is one of the missions of the new managing group to bring back the 'yard' to its former prominence," said Stone, referring to the outdoor bar, stage and patio area where after-track partiers gather to dine, drink and enjoy live entertainment.

Stone said cover charges for live bands performing in the yard have been nixed and drink prices have been lowered.

On Tuesday nights, Saratoga Springs citizens with proof of residence can get a 20 percent discount on their check. A Sunday champagne brunch, from

10 a.m. to 3 p.m., has been added, and a Manhattan-based sandwich company called Pastrami Queen will serve sandwiches in the yard.

"With the changes that are currently taken place, we want to be sure that the energy is at a very high level and we want all local residents to know that the food that they've come to expect is ongoing," Stone said. "(The new owners) have made every accommodation to make Siro's more available and accessible to everyone that wants to come back."

Siro's will be open at 11 a.m. (the bar stays open until 4 a.m.) Wednesdays through Mondays during the racing season, and from 6 p.m. to midnight Tuesdays.